As part of CO Awareness week last November, I was one of six illustrators asked to re-interpret drawings of the invisible CO monster by a group of young children. We were given the freedom to eloborate but without radically departing from the basic design – it had to be recognisable as the image it was based on.

Apart from five year old Theo’s drawing, the only other information I was given by the client (Propellernet) was that apparently ‘the monster’s right ear makes him go invisible, and his left ear makes him visible again’.

Interpreting the drawing required a little bit of guesswork – some parts were obvious and some, not so much. I think Theo started the body in the usual way – I could see 3 white snowman-type circles – before adding more ghostly, gassy, swirly ‘invisible’ shapes. There’s two feet at the very bottom which I made more flowing. I quite liked the idea of incorporating all Theo’s markings into the design as well. I wasn’t sure what the blue lines near the bottom were, maybe they were there to give the idea of the gas as a flame.

I could clearly see a mouth which could be turned into a definite feature but I wasn’t quite sure what the red lines on either side were – fumes? I added them anyway as extra arm / tentacle things. The hair/gas at the top seemed fairly clear to me but I wasn’t sure if the black thing sticking on the right-hand side was an arm. Is it an arm?

There’s a video of all the children on Youtube – part of the campaign against the invisible killer. Some facts about our awareness of Carbon Monoxide and it’s dangers can be found on the stats. sheet above. Do your research and get informed – it could save your life.